[Edu-sig] New articles on Medium.... (not all by me :-D)

[Charles]

Hi Kirby, just read your article on Medium.  Interesting thoughts, as
always.   I read something the other day which pointed out that in Chinese
high school calculators are not allowed … possibly ever? It seems like a
no-brainer to me to eliminate calculators from the K-12 system entirely,
but apparently not to the powers-that-be. I’ve been in several math
classrooms lately while subbing and the button sequences required to do
simple things are just ridiculous, far-outweighing any emphasis on what one
is doing via such sequences.

One question about code schools that I have is: Are their certificates
recognized? I hate the thought of all the middle-man certification industry
being imposed upon something good like PDX Code Guild, but it seems like
the first potential issue that would come-up, i.e. how transferable and
recognized is that accomplishment? I’m curious because I’d like to start
one here in New Mexico, but I can already hear the skeptics and nay-sayers
that I’ve heard so many times before … and I can see an efficient model
getting bloated with collaborations with corporations which “certify” and
“accredit” etc etc.

The last couple months have been interesting for me, as an education
software enthusiast substitute-teaching in the k-12 system. Many teachers
purchase their own software and set of licenses because the school system
won’t. Many teachers also pull-up free, online materials during class, and
some of those are spewing flat-out incorrect information. For example, I
was visiting a middle-school science class doing a “block” on renewable
energy and the class began with a visit to a website (projected on the
screen) in which the site defined torque as “a special kind of energy” and
proceeded to build upon that (incorrect) definition over the rest of the
“lesson”, culminating in questions that couldn’t be answered or were
at-odds with the initial definitions provided.

Another quick story: about 10 yrs ago my daughter was in middle school in
the same public school system as I’m now teaching in. One day she told me
that the sky was blue because the sunlight reflected off the ocean(!!!).
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, when I was covering science class at a
different school (now 10 years later) and talking about Sun-Earth
interaction and so forth. Out of curiosity I asked the class if they knew
why the sky was blue? Everyone knew! It was because the sun reflects off
the ocean! I asked other classes that day and got the same damn answer from
each class. What do you call that? “Institutionalized mis-information”?
Where is it coming from? These things are set in their minds by the power
of the first impression or first encounter, in this case. This is just one
example, and not the only one. This does not bode well for the future of
our country.

One last reflection: I’m now a long-term sub as a music teacher in the same
elementary school that both my children attended. Irrelevant except that I
love the school. I’ve never taught music and I’ve got up to nine classes
per day with 20–25 kids per class. That’s 200 students from k-5 every day.
I am regularly scrambling for cool things to do in class. I developed a music
bingo game <https://github.com/ccosse/MusicBingo> (original to me but not
the first) in the first weeks. That went-over very well and I’ve been
thinking of ways to extend and improve upon it. I borrowed an iPad from the
school and I’ve got a Raspberry-Pi3 setup as a server already. I’m thinking
that a good software activity would be to have the kids sitting in a circle
with their iPads and a bingo screen served by the R-Pi in the middle of the
circle (or wherever). In other words, digital music bingo, whereas it’s
currently just printed paper sheets and drawing notes etc from a hat. This
type of setup appeals to me software-wise, as it would remain an
interactive group activity and still make use of technology. The tech is
right there in-their-face, still, but it might as well be a physical game
board made of card stock. The benefit is that the teacher wouldn’t have to
run around checking all the answers, and things like that.

Code schools. Once again, it’s gonna come down to the teachers at the code
school. God help us!

On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 12:53 AM, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Useful summary of on-line Python 3 tutorials, starting with the one in
> docs.python.org itself:
>
> https://medium.com/@lockpaddy/10-resources-to-learn-python-
> 3-9a735db7aff9#.mabvr7g8l
>
> Is it just me or am I sensing a strong pull towards Python 3, away from
> 2.x?
>
> My meditation, also on Medium, published today, is a more generic
> meditation on code schools.
>
> https://medium.com/@kirbyurner/is-code-school-the-
> new-high-school-30a8874170b
>
> I mention Python quite a bit, in my appraisal of the looming digital
> divide and how to bridge it.
>
> I've invited more math teachers to comment as what I write concerns them:
>
> http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2845880
>
> None of these are new themes on edu-sig.
>
> If you check my other Medium writings, you'll find a lot more (also blogs).
>
> Kirby
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>


-- 

Linkedin <https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-cosse> | E-Learning
<http://www.asymptopia.org>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20170322/307bf6b1/attachment.html>